Factors associated with mortality due to COVID-19 in patients from a public hospital in Tacna, Peru

• Main Authors: Miguel Hueda-Zavaleta, Cesar Copaja-Corzo, Fabrizzio Bardales-Silva, Rodrigo Flores-Palacios, Luis Barreto-Rocchetti, Vicente A. Benites-Zapata
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Instituto Nacional de Salud 2021-08-01
• Series: Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública
• Subjects: covid-19; sars-cov-2; factores de riesgo; pandemia por nuevo coronavirus 2019; neumonía viral; infecciones por coronavirus; hospitalización; mortalidad; supervivencia; perú
• Online Access: https://rpmesp.ins.gob.pe/rpmesp/article/view/7158

Objective: To describe the clinical, laboratory and treatment characteristics of COVID-19 patients and to determine the factors associated with mortality during hospital stay. Materials and Methods: Retrospective cohort study of adult COVID-19 inpatients. The clinical, laboratory and treatment data were obtained from the medical records of patients from the Hospital Nivel III Daniel Alcides Carrión in Tacna. For the survival analysis we used the Cox proportional hazards model, and we calculated crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: We evaluated 351 patients; 74.1% of them were men. The most common comorbidities were obesity (31.6%), hypertension (27.1%) and diabetes mellitus (24.5%). The median time of hospitalization was 8 days (IQR: 4-15). From the total of patients, 32.9% died during follow-up. The multivariate analysis showed an increased risk of dying associated with the following: age ≥65 years, HR = 3.55 (95% CI: 1.70-7.40); increase in lactate dehydrogenase 720 U/L, HR = 2.08 (95% CI: 1.34-3.22); and oxygen saturation less than 90%, mainly when it was less than 80%, HR = 4.07 (95% CI: 2.10-7.88). In addition, the use of colchicine during treatment showed a protective effect, HR = 0.46 (95% CI: 0.23-0.91). Conclusions: Risk factors for mortality due to COVID-19 included being older than 65 years, having oxygen saturation less than 90%, and elevated lactate dehydrogenase 720 U/L; colchicine treatment could improve the prognosis of patients.